Plymouth police officer falls into corn pit

PLYMOUTH -- Monday, July 17, was a weird day for Plymouth police rookie Matt Brown. He'd been called out a little before 3 p.m., along with other city officers, on a pursuit of a man for whom a warrant was issued. Police Chief Jim Cox spotted the suspect heading in the direction of the former Fulton Marshall Co-Op, 510 W. Adams St. Brown left the vehicle when he arrived at the site, where the city plans a technology and social services resource center in the future. "There was a small door open at the silo," Brown said. As he approached on foot, he reasoned the suspect could be hiding inside. "I saw the corn on the ground," Brown said, "and I still don't know what I was standing on." The next thing he knew, he was swimming in a black brine filled with corn, a pit that Cox guesses was used to convey corn from one side of the street to the other, underground. No one knew how long the foul, and particularly smelly, mixture had been in the pit. "I don't remember much except thinking, 'Don't panic because you'll only make it worse,'" Brown said, still grinning from all the jokes and nicknames that would soon follow. "When I swam back to the top, it took me a couple of seconds to figure out where I was, I grabbed onto the concrete edge, and pulled myself out," Brown said. Ray West, Brown's field training officer, and fellow officer Shanna Gilmer, were there to verify Brown was all right. Brown, who hadn't yet been issued uniforms, was in a polo shirt and khaki pants, and boots he said he'd just broken in after about three month's wear. He had on a used protective vest, and was wearing his police radio and carrying his handgun at the time. "You could smell him a mile away," Cox said, remembering the sorry state Brown was in when he emerged from the pit. "There was black gunk everywhere." Brown was too filthy to ride back to the station in his squad car, and had to walk. Cox said Brown's clothing was "immediately" thrown into the trash and that he was hosed down in the department's three-bay garage area. "We put him in a jump suit to go home," Cox said. "The smell was so bad we had to keep the doors on all three bays cracked open for a week." The radio was ruined and, despite a thorough cleaning, Brown said the gun still smells "pretty bad." "The good thing was that he didn't hit his head," Cox said Tuesday morning. All jokes aside, though, the chief received the Plymouth Board of Public Works & Safety's approval to send a bill for $1,200 to co-op officials, not only for damages to the officer's clothing and equipment, but also for the exam Brown underwent with a local physician after the fall. Cox said co-op owners have covered the pit once more, but, he added, "I am not satisfied." The chief said he's concerned that the incident could be repeated in a neighborhood that includes many residences and families with small children. Cox said he's spoken with officials at Transit Mix, who said they have a variety of materials that could be used to fill the pit once the corn mix is pumped out. Cox intends to speak with co-op owners about the idea, he said Tuesday. "I think it (the mix) should be pumped down, and a steel plate bolted down," Brown said. Todd Overmyer, Fulton-Marshall Co-op's Inwood branch manager, said, the pit was immediately fitted with a new cover after the incident. "It's a temporary fix until the new owners can take possession," Overmyer said, adding that he expected the transaction to occur by the end of August. Overmyer said he did not know whether the city of Plymouth or private investors representing the Tech Initiative project are the new owners of the property.Staff writer Anita Munson: amunson@sbtinfo.com (574) 936-2920